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Castro's Secrets: Cuban Intelligence, The CIA, and the Assassination of John F. Kennedy Paperback – July 9, 2013

4.2 4.2 out of 5 stars 123 ratings

Published to glowing reviews, this riveting narrative takes us back to when the Cuban Revolution was young and offers a new and surprising look at Fidel Castro. Drawing on interviews with high-level defectors from Cuban intelligence, Cuba expert Brian Latell creates a vivid narrative that chronicles Castro's crimes from his university days through nearly 50 years in power. As Cuba's supreme spymaster Fidel built up an intelligence system that became one of best and most aggressive anywhere. Latell argues that the CIA grossly underestimated the Cubans' extraordinary abilities to run moles and double agents and to penetrate the highest levels of American institutions. He reveals new details about the CIA's most deplorable plots against Cuba and shocking new findings about what Fidel actually knew of Lee Harvey Oswald prior to the assassination of John F. Kennedy.
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Editorial Reviews

Review

“Attention-getting… point[s] to crucial unresolved questions that still trouble our national soul.” ―Slate

“Brilliant . . . This unique book not only traces Fidel Castro's extraordinary intelligence service and its acts against the U.S., but it also analyzes America's -- and especially the overeager Kennedy boys' -- attempts to kill Castro . . . informative (and wonderfully readable) . . . Latell's book, enhanced by the author's rich experience, radar-like understanding of the peculiar people involved and mastery of history, is an important contribution to understanding this crucial period that changed us much more than we imagine.” ―
Georgie Anne Geyer, The Columbus Dispatch

Castro's Secrets begins like a slow murder mystery then builds damning fact after damning fact into a conclusive, ground-breaking portrait, based on firsthand sources, of how the Cuban strongman--in all his evil brilliance--frequently ran circles around the CIA . . . The most interesting parts of his narrative revolve around how much Castro knew about the plot to kill Kennedy, and a parallel attempt, on the part of the CIA, to assassinate the Cuban dictator . . . One of the successes of Castro's Secrets is that it offers readers a view of both sides of the shadow war.” ―The Daily Beast

“A fascinating study of Castro's intelligence network and its early battles with the CIA to secure Castro's hold on power.” ―
The Sunday Times

“Britan Latell, for four decades the CIA's ranking authority on all matters Castro and Cuban, has ripped the shroud off the circumstances behind one of the more flagrant instances of journalistic malpractice ever in the Washington media.” ―
The Washington Times

“Authoritative exposé …[and] a lively and revealing account of the long intelligence war between the U.S. and Cuba.” ―
Publishers Weekly

“[Latell] offers considerable information about how the U.S. government tried continually to overthrow the Castro regime, including plans that could have led to the assassination of one or both Castro brothers. In addition to information about assassination plots, Latell explains how a small island nation built an impressive spy agency . . . An insider's account.” ―
Kirkus Reviews

“An insider's look at Castro's Cuba, and its tortured relationship with America, from one of the most knowledgeable Cuba experts around. Brian Latell draws on exclusive interviews with Cuban spies and troves of declassified documents to provide the most authoritative account yet of the decades-long U.S. Cuba intelligence war.” ―
Michael Dobbs, author of One Minute to Midnight: JFK, Khrushchev, and Castro on the Brink of Nuclear War

“I have been waiting more than 35 years for this book. Since my service as a member of the Senate's Church committee I have never believed Fidel Castro's denials of prior knowledge of the Kennedy assassination. Brian Latell has performed a national service by writing a book that lays bare the duplicity of the Cuban government.” ―
Robert Morgan, former US Senator

“No one knows more about Cuban intelligence than Brian Latell. In this page-turner, he not only tells compelling stories that reveal the strength of Cuban actions in Le Carre's world of spy vs. spy but raises unsettling questions about Lee Harvey Oswald's Cuban connections. By the end, the reader is asking, What did Fidel know and when did he know it?” ―
Timothy Naftali, Blind Spot: The Secret History of American Counterterrorism

“A remarkable look at Fidel Castro's intelligence machine. This is a must read for anyone curious about the long history of Fidel Castro's intelligence preoccupation with the U.S. ” ―
Frederick P. Hitz, former Inspector General of CIA and author of The Great Game

Castro's Secrets is a must read for anyone who cares about how JFK died, how Fidel Castro lied to a congressional investigating committee, and whether the CIA is still covering up crucial knowledge.” ―G. Robert Blakey, Former Chief Counsel and Staff Director to the House Select Committee on Assassinations

“In this provocative book, Brian Latell brings to bear all his experience and knowledge as a former intelligence analyst on Cuba for the CIA. This is a book that should be read, regardless of whether one agrees with Latell about Castro's complicity in JFK's assassination.” ―
Max Holland, author of The Kennedy Assassination Tapes

“[CASTRO'S SECRETS is] the first substantial study of Fidel Castro's intelligence operations. Based on interviews with Cuban spies who defected as well as declassified documents from the CIA, the FBI, the Pentagon and other national security organs, it contains a good deal of material likely to stir controversy . . . Latell's book makes some new revelations and adds detail to older ones in making the argument that Castro played at least an indirect role in the assassination [of JFK].” ―
The Miami Herald

About the Author

Brian Latell is the author of After Fidel, which has been published in eight languages. He began tracking the Castro brothers for the CIA in the 1960s. His articles have appeared in The Washington Post, The Wall Street Journal, Time, The Miami Herald, and The Washington Quarterly. Currently senior research associate at the Institute for Cuban and Cuban American Studies at the University of Miami, he previously taught for a quarter century at Georgetown University. He lives in Lancaster, Virginia.

Product details

  • Publisher ‏ : ‎ St. Martin's Griffin (July 9, 2013)
  • Language ‏ : ‎ English
  • Paperback ‏ : ‎ 304 pages
  • ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 1137278412
  • ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-1137278418
  • Item Weight ‏ : ‎ 11.2 ounces
  • Dimensions ‏ : ‎ 6.35 x 0.84 x 9.13 inches
  • Customer Reviews:
    4.2 4.2 out of 5 stars 123 ratings

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4.2 out of 5 stars
123 global ratings

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Customers say

Customers find the book provides interesting insights into the Cuban missile crisis and JFK. They appreciate the well-researched exploration of new evidence and the cat-and-mouse games played by the U.S. CIA. The book is described as entertaining, though some readers feel there are too many rumors and undocumented theories.

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30 customers mention "Insight"25 positive5 negative

Customers find the book provides interesting insights into the Cuban missile crisis and JFK. They appreciate the well-researched exploration of the possibility that Castro was behind the assassination. The book combines an expert mastery of the subject matter with clear and lively writing. Readers find the compelling argument and detailed account of Cuban intelligence during the 60s and 70s engaging.

"...However, the most intriguing and reliable revelations (i.e., pure facts without any embellishment or speculation) come to light from Florentino..." Read more

"...and convincing psychological portrait of Castro as a cold-blooded revolutionary, politician, leader and killer, who personally ran the DGI and..." Read more

"This book is a well researched exploration of the possibility that Castro was, if not responsible, at least knowledgable with regard to the plot to..." Read more

"...one for Kennedy assassination conspiracies, but this makes a compelling argument and makes the reader think." Read more

3 customers mention "Enjoyment"3 positive0 negative

Customers enjoy the book. However, some reviewers feel it contains too many rumors and undocumented theories.

"...and lively writing style that makes reading his work enlightening and fun...." Read more

"Entertaining. But to much rumors and undocumented theories...." Read more

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Top reviews from the United States

  • Reviewed in the United States on December 13, 2012
    Author Brian Latell, a professor, scholar, and retired CIA officer who had been active in foreign intelligence for 35 years, relies extensively on information provided by half a dozen Cuban defectors and several retired CIA officers. However, the most intriguing and reliable revelations (i.e., pure facts without any embellishment or speculation) come to light from Florentino Aspillaga Lombard ("Tiny"), the most knowledgeable and valuable foreign intelligence officer to ever defect from Cuba's powerful Directorio General de Inteligencia (DGI).

    Tiny Aspillaga defected that fateful summer in 1987 in the midst of the turbulent and historic years of Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev's Glasnost and Perestroika -- but still four years before the total collapse of the Soviet empire. Aspillaga had served with distinction in the elite ranks of the DGI and had even received a personal commendation from Fidel Castro. After Aspillaga began working with the CIA, he immediately exposed dozens of Cuban double agents, who had infiltrated American intelligence, political and cultural institutions, as well as various anti-Castro groups. Many of these Cuban double agents had been operating for over two decades, inflicting untold damage on the U.S. The most highly placed double agents were handled personally by Fidel Castro, who, for nearly fifty years, acted as "Cuba's supreme spymaster"!

    Aspillaga's revelations proved and subsequent investigations corroborated that the CIA had been for a number of years outclassed and humbled by the Cuban DGI in spycraft. Although "the Americans had been careless, overconfident, deceived in ways that they thought unimaginable," according to Latell, "none had been dishonest or disloyal." The Aspillaga defection changed that and he became a marked man.

    Following Cuba's year of the spy (1987), when six major defections took place including that of Aspillaga and the much-celebrated Cuban hero, General Rafael del Pino, Castro ordered a devastating purge of both the Cuban Interior Ministry and the island's secret police. Aspillaga's defection was a crushing blow to Fidel personally and to Cuban foreign intelligence generally, even affecting internal G-2 operations. The head of Cuban counterintelligence in Havana committed suicide with a pistol shot through his mouth. But make no mistake about it, despite these losses, Cuban foreign intelligence remains probably to this day an agency without peer in the cloak and dagger, lethal game of human intelligence (HI) and counterintelligence (CI) in the world. And also in judging the CIA, we must remember that totalitarian police states have astronomical advantages over the foreign spy agencies of the free world that frequently go unnoticed.(3) These advantages usually include a vast network of informants, where everyone is afraid of and snitches on everybody else; citizens have no constitutional or civil rights; national identity cards are mandated and required for travel (with concomitant restriction of movement for the foreign spies as well as the citizens); unlimited resources are available for the state spies and secret police, etc. Cuba had all of these advantages, as well as superior spycraft led by Fidel himself, a brilliant but evil spymaster with unlimited power, the supreme autocrat.

    Latell reveals the existence of and discloses the content of Castro's Armageddon letter of October 22, 1962 (the last day of the Cuban Missile Crisis) to Soviet Premier Nikita Khrushchev. In that letter, Castro advocates a preemptive nuclear strike against the U.S., using not only the island's strategic and tactical assembled missile force but also the USSR nuclear arsenal. Khrushchev not only turned him down but the emotionally charged, diabolical impetuosity of the Cuban leader frightened and prompted Khrushchev to immediately cave in to JFK's demands.

    Latell dismantles the myth of impending reconciliation between Castro and Kennedy after the Cuban Missile Crisis that was supposedly cut short only by Kennedy's assassination. Fidel told his guest, the prominent French Journalist Jean Daniel who had doubled as Kennedy's emissary, that he would never foreswear his Marxist beliefs, renounce his allegiance to Moscow, or abandon the exportation of revolution to other countries in Latin America or the rest of the world. Fidel would not even compromise with Kennedy's suggestion that he become a nonaligned, independent, communist leader like Tito of Yugoslavia and break away from the Soviet bloc. The ray of light that many journalists and normally well-informed people refused to see because they were taken in by the dark shadows of disinformation -- namely that the two leaders respected each other and were close to reconciliation -- was a myth and not reality. Behind the scenes both leaders continued to plot against each other in the worst traditions of the cold war. In the end, prior to 1987, Fidel prevailed because of the superiority his DGI had over the CIA in spycraft, human intelligence, and general aforementioned advantages that an island police state possesses over those of the free world.

    The final piece in his jigsaw puzzle is the astounding information provided by Tiny Aspillaga. The super defector revealed that as a young radio operator at Castro's ultra-secret Jaimanitas listening post on the northern coast of Cuba near Havana, he was suddenly and without precedent ordered to redirect his listening antennas from his usual target the CIA and switch the dials to Texas! It was the morning of November 22, 1963, three hours before the JFK assassination that took place at 12:30 p.m. (Dallas time) on that same day. Aspillaga informed Latell: "Castro knew. They knew Kennedy would be killed."

    I will not spoil the book for you by revealing how Castro knew and the machinations that probably took place leading to the tragic assassination of JFK. This review is extracted from a much longer and illustrated essay reviewing this book in haciendapublishingdotcom. Suffice to say, I recommend Latell's book for all readers interested in Cuban intelligence during the Cold War, Fidel Castro, the CIA, and the secret aspects of the Kennedy assassination. Despite a couple of quibbles, one of which is the accusation that Comandante Rolando Cubela was a double agent working for Castro. Latell has not convinced me, and I continue to disagree with this important but not essential point for reasons I have already written about in my book Cuba in Revolution - Escape from a Lost Paradise (2002). My second quibble is the paucity of illustrations. There were many photos of American heroes and miscellaneous villains I would have liked included. But this book is good. Get it, and read it!

    Miguel A. Faria Jr., M.D. is the author of Cuba in Revolution - Escape from a Lost Paradise (2002) and many essays on the cold war and communism, including "Stalin's Mysterious Death" (2011) and "Stalin, Communists and Fatal Statistics (2011)
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  • Reviewed in the United States on December 19, 2013
    Brian Latell’s Castro’s Secrets is a well researched book about Castro, JFK and Bobby Kennedy who tried for years to assassinate Castro and overthrow his government, Lee Harvey Oswald and his contacts with the Cuban Embassy in Mexico City, the clandestine wars between the CIA and DGI, and Latell’s belief that Castro was forewarned of Oswald’s deadly intent in Dallas. Much of the information in the book Latell acquired from thorough and repetitive debriefings of the handful of Cuban DGI defectors to the U.S., primarilyFlorentino Aspillaga, the senior DGI counterintelligence officer who defected in 1987 and revealed that the forty agents CIA was running against Cuba were all doubles.
    He develops a detailed and convincing psychological portrait of Castro as a cold-blooded revolutionary, politician, leader and killer, who personally ran the DGI and personally handled many of its best penetrations of the American government target and directed its ‘wet affairs’. Absolutely ruthless, Castro was also a supreme narcissist who during the Cuban missile crisis sent a long coded message to Khrushev urging him to initiate atomic war with America if necessary rather than let it overrun Cuba and end the Cuban revolution. Latell details this at some length along with similar stories about Castro to demonstrate how Castro would go to any length to defend and extend the revolution which he believed he embodied and epitomized. American plots to kill Castro started in 1960 but picked up great momentum after the missile crisis of 1962 and continued unrelentingly through 1965. Thanks to his numerous double agents against the CIA, Castro was well aware of the plots and the passionate involvement of Jack and Bobby Kennedy. It is not surprising then that he hated and feared Kennedy. At the CIA Des Fitzgerald (a distant relative of Jack and Bobby through their mother Rose Fitzgerald) was the key man in Washington, while Ted Shackley ran the huge JMWAVE paramilitary station in Florida and directed attacks on Cuba.
    Latell also develops the psychology of Oswald, a Marxist, neer-do-well, general misfit and Fidel Castro idolizer, who sought to help Castro and his revolution. His contacts with the DGI probably started circa 1959 while he was still a Marine. He wanted to go to Cuba and fight for the revolution. After his sojourn in the USSR, he traveled to Mexico City in September 1963 and had at least three contacts with the Cuban Embassy and the DGI, the content of which would certainly have been reported back to Castro. The last contact, during which his repeated request for a visa to Cuba was definitively turned down, he left slamming the door and shouting that he was going to kill Kennedy.
    Two months later, Aspillaga on 22 November was running a signal intercept targeted on JMWAVE and CIA boats offshore when he was suddenly directed to turn his antennas towards Dallas. Thus he picked up the first reports of JFK being shot. His reaction was that Castro knew the attempt would be made and thus had had him redirect his SIGINT effort. Years later, Jack Childs, a long time FBI penetration of the American Communist party who was received regularly in Moscow and Cuba and had the confidence of Communist leaders, reported that Castro told him that he had known that Oswald wanted to kill Kennedy. His embassy in Mexico City and reported Oswald's threats.
    The question remains whether Castro was merely a passive recipient of knowledge about Oswald’s intent or actively encouraged and possibly aided Oswald in retaliation for JFK’s increasingly aggressive and intense efforts to have him killed. Of course, there is no answer to this question in this book and perhaps never will be.
    I found this book to be a good read, although of course disturbing that our secret services could have been so thoroughly bested for so long. At the same time it is a good study for intelligence officers looking for lessons how to do a better job carrying out their mission. Negligence and hubris played large roles in the fiasco: few at CIA believed a tiny country, Cuba, and its service could best us; certainly few in command at Langley in the 1960s. Des Fitzgerald comes off as the lightweight spy that he indeed was. Since Aspillaga did not defect until 1987, no one knew for years of the disaster that Fitzgerald unwittingly presided over and thus his career advanced to high levels.
    How could this have happened—the CIA being so outclassed? Indeed! What turned the tide against the Cubans and their highly successful double agent program was a single defector motivated by admiration for Americans and a growing cynicism about his own country and communism.
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Top reviews from other countries

  • Paul Marks
    5.0 out of 5 stars Hard facts about a world too often dominated by fantasy. The CIA shown as (mostly) hopelessly out of touch and incompetant.
    Reviewed in the United Kingdom on May 29, 2014
    Grim reading - showing the utter incompetence of the CIA (normally presented, both by its friends and its enemies, as all powerful) in relation to Cuba and related concerns.

    The Cuban DGI (and their Soviet backers) ran rings round the CIA (which was dominated by arrogant people who believed themselves to be better than they were - and who regarded their Cuban Communist enemies as no real competition). How both the CIA and the American people viewed events (including the murder of President Kennedy) has largely been controlled by their enemies.
  • Richard Babin
    1.0 out of 5 stars Anti-Cuba propaganda
    Reviewed in Canada on June 27, 2012
    Anybody who still believes in the one bullet theory in the JFK assassination has got to be an idiot. But in this case the author being part of the C.I.A. is more concerne with conver up than any thing else. It is the same for the U.S.A.- Cuba conflict, all he does is bash the cuban administration. Obviously, he is frrustrated that cuban intelligence has outwitted the C.I.A. as he himself admitted.
    A waste of time and money!
  • jules
    5.0 out of 5 stars love fidel
    Reviewed in the United Kingdom on May 3, 2017
    Love fidel.A excellent read